When I Was Your Age … Ernest P. Worrell

You know how our parents and elders would say “When I was your age…” preceding any story telling about how things were different when they were young? No, I’m not collecting social security checks yet, but as I approach my 30th year on planet Earth I have already started noticing how some things have changed … a lot! When I was a kid, we watched shows that were fun, goofy and maybe a bit weird at times. However, some of the kid’s programming today is down-right bizarre. My most favorite example being the Teletubbies. What is this?

This being a “movie blog,” I’ll start this string of posts off with, yep … a series of movies. However, perhaps going a bit against the grain, I may occasionally throw in TV shows or something completely off the wall … but, I’ll still try and tie it in with the theme we carry here at WAMG.

If I mentioned the name Jim Varney, would you instantly know who I’m talking about? A few of you probably raised some eyebrows. Now, if I were to mention Ernest P. Worrell I guarantee even more of us would begin to show a little of our age. Ernest P. Worrell is the accident-prone, screwball extra-long billed hat wearing annoying neighbor to Vern, a personality that the late Jim Varney created and successfully ran with for years, making a total of eleven films, five direct-to-video titles, two made-for-TV movies and two TV series as the lovable, crazy character.

Later in his career, Varney would provide the voice for the Slinky Dog character in Toy Story and Toy Story 2. Unfortunately, Jim Varney would die one year later in 2000 from lung cancer. But, we (my generation) will always remember him as the goofy neighbor of Vern and the occasional evil Dr. Otto … As an adult, his whimsical silliness and slapstick comedy probably wouldn’t hold up, but back when I was young’un … I got instantly excited anytime I saw one of his new videos (yep, this was pre-DVD) on the shelf at the grocery store Video Rental department. Those were the days …

For those interested in reliving a piece of their childhood, or for those younger tadpoles interested in experiencing some of our joy, here’s a list of Ernest P. Worrell titles: